The Last Man on Earth (1964)

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Dir- Sidney Salkow & Ubaldo Ragona

After a mysterious illness has turned most of the population into vampire-like zombie creatures, the sole remaining uninfected man struggles to survive and find a cure to help those infected. However, when he learns of other survivors, his hopes are dashed when he discovers they may not be immune as he is. The first adaptation of Richard Matheson's dystopian novel I Am Legend, The Last Man on Earth, stars Vincent Price as scientist Dr. Robert Morgan. The film features a number of flashbacks that show Dr. Morgan's life before the illness and his attempts to find a cure. While using the same source novel as 1971s, The Omega Man, The Last Man on Earth focuses less on the action and more on the survivor's struggle with loneliness and the despair over the loss of his family. Despite the film's mediocre box office, The Last Man on Earth has emerged as a cult classic and one of the films that would inspire later zombie movies such as Night of the Living Dead.